Amber Case

Amber Case is a cyborg anthropologist and user experience designer from Portland, Oregon. She studies the interaction between humans and computers and how our relationship with information is changing the way cultures think, act, and understand their worlds.

She is the co-founder and former CEO of Geoloqi, a location-based software company acquired by Esri in 2012. She spoke about the future of the interface for SXSW 2012’s keynote address, and her TED talk, “We are all cyborgs now” has been viewed over a million times. Named one of National Geographic’s Emerging Explorers, she’s been listed among Inc. Magazine’s 30 under 30 and featured among Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology. You can follow her on Twitter @caseorganic and learn more at caseorganic.com.

Author of:

25

9:00 - 12:30

Room 2

Workshop

Designing Calm Technology

The difference between an annoying technology and one that is helpful is how it engages our attention. Calm Technology is a framework for designing ubiquitous devices that engage our attention in an appropriate manner. The aim of Calm Technology is to provide principles that follow the human lifestyle and environment in mind, allowing technology to amplify humanness instead of taking it away.

This workshop will cover how to use principles of Calm Technology to design the next generation of connected devices. We’ll look at notification styles, compressing information into other senses, and designing for the least amount of cognitive overhead.

Participants will work in groups to solve a series of design challenges, including designing new products, 'calming down' a complex ones, communicating the principles of Calm Technology across an organization and team, and entering a product successfully into the marketplace.

You’ll learn how to:

Use principles of Calm Technology to design the next generation of connected devices.

Design appropriate notification systems into both physical and software products

Communicate the principles of Calm Technology to your across your organization and team

Use methods of Calm Technology to design technology for generations, not seasons.

Enter your product successfully into the marketplace.

Who is the workshop for?

This workshop is for anyone that actively builds or makes decisions about technology, especially user experience designers, product designers, managers, creative directors and developers. Attendees are encouraged to have some background in user experience design and look at http://calmtechnology.com/ before the workshop.

Thu

26

14:00 - 14:35

Auditorium I

Talk

Calm Technology and Wearable Computing

In this presentation, Geoloqi co-founder Amber Case will take you on a journey through the history of calm technology, wearable computing, and how developers and designers can make apps “ambient” and inspire delight instead of constant interaction.

This talk will focus on trends in wearable computing starting from the 1970’s-2010’s and how mobile interfaces should take advantage of location, proximity and haptics to help improve our lives instead of get in the way.